Given a re-launch almost four months ago, the Devizes branch of UKIP, which takes in Marlborough, has already more than doubled its membership – from just 40 to an official 97.
And it is planning now to select a parliamentary candidate to stand against Tory MP Claire Perry at the 2015 general election in the wake of UKIP’s formidable national by-election successes.
Three potential candidates – two men and a woman — are being lined up for a secret poll selection meeting in the wake of UKIP pushing the Conservative and Lib-Dem candidates into third and fourth place by coming second to Labour in the Wythenshawe by-election.
It was the sixth time UKIP has been a by-election runner-up, an encouraging sign in tackling Mrs Perry’s Devizes constituency at the next election.
“She isn’t considered to be worth a pinch of salt by most people,” Devizes party chairman Tony Molland told Marlborough News Online. “The Wythenshawe, up in Manchester, was excellent and what was expected.
“No member of UKIP thought that we would actually take that seat because it is a very safe one for Labour. But we did extremely well in knocking all the other parties into third and fourth place, the Lib-Dems even losing their deposit.”
He expects UKIP to do well locally at the Euro elections in May. “We will do exactly what the opinion polls are forecasting,” he said. “It’s going to be a shattering experience for the Tory/Lib-Dem coalition. So we are working very hard to achieve success.”
UKIP’s membership boost has come as a result of mass leaflet deliveries and a series of Action Days held in Devizes, Marlborough and Pewsey. And it is also doing well raising funds, almost £250 coming lately from a Quiz Night staged at the King’s Arms, in All Cannings.
Mr Molland, a former Wiltshire councillor now 76, will be reporting on these events to members at the local party’s next meeting, due to be held at the Bear Hotel, in Marlborough.
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